Zimmerman Parents' New Website Decries Threats, Says Son Is No RacistJuly 27, 2012

A week after George Zimmerman rolled out a revamped website, his parents have unveiled their own website, detailing in voluminous detail the upheaval and death threats suffered by three generations of the family after their son, 28, shot and killed Trayvon Martin, 17, on Feb. 26.

The younger Zimmerman's website, therealgeorgezimmerman.com, is an open appeal for donations to help pay for his legal fees, security and living expenses, and a forum to try to offer an unfiltered account of who George Zimmerman is.

The parents' site, called robertandgladys.com aims to counter the way their son has been "savagely portrayed in the media," and has a tab asking for contributions to their "greatly increased living expenses."

What follows is a painstaking detailed history of the family -- from Robert and Gladys Zimmerman's courtship in the late 1970s to the frenzied days after the shooting.

In his missive, Robert Zimmerman describes a barrage of threatening calls, the media "beating down our door" and death threats.

The worst came, he writes, after Rosanne Barr published the family's address and phone numbers. ::snipping2::

Her new attorney, Kelly B. Sims, filed paperwork Friday entering that plea on her behalf. That means she won't have to show up at the Seminole County criminal building Tuesday for arraignment. ::snipping2::

Friday was the first time Sims, a board-certified criminal-trial specialist, was identified as Shellie Zimmerman's lawyer. The Orlando attorney has been practicing in Florida for more than 20 years and has worked on high-profile cases in the past. ::snipping2::

Sims couldn't be reached for comment Friday afternoon. His filings were received by the Seminole County clerk about 4:35 p.m., a court spokeswoman said. ::snipping2::

(CNN) -- The wife of George Zimmerman will not be at her scheduled arraignment Tuesday after pleading not guilty to perjury for allegedly lying about the family's finances as her husband faced murder charges, a court official said.

Shellie Zimmerman's lawyer, Kelly Sims, on Friday entered a written not guilty plea and waiver for her not to personally appear at her arraignment, Seminole County, Florida, court spokeswoman Michelle Kennedy said Monday.

"Neither Ms. Zimmerman or her attorney are required to attend the arraignment," Kennedy said by e-mail. " "Ms. Zimmerman's name will remain on the docket, but her case will not be called." ::snipping2::Kennedy, the court spokeswoman, also said Monday that she expected Lester to issue a ruling "sometime this week," though she did not indicate what it would be about.

Earlier in July, Zimmerman filed a motion in circuit court saying Zimmerman cannot get a fair trial because Lester used "gratuitous, disparaging" language in his second bail order. ::snipping2::

CNN SANFORD, Fla. - Controversy is sparking over the new location for a memorial for Trayvon Martin, the Sanford teen who was shot and killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.

Around 100 people attended a meeting Monday night over the relocation of a memorial from the Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood where Martin was shot and killed Feb. 26.

Some residents felt moving it was disrespectful to move it and saw it as a way to remember the 17-year-old.

"We want the memorial back up," said resident Turner Clayton of the NAACP. "It is not on display in the museum, it's packed away in a box."

Others who lived in the neighborhood wanted the memorial moved, saying it was an eyesore and cast their neighborhood in a bad light.

"They were taken to be preserved at the Sanford Museum," said Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte. "That angered some people."

The question over how to memorialize Martin grew into a discussion about what to do about the other 25 recent deaths in Sanford and if other memorials around town should be relocated. Clayton pointed out other memorials around town should be treated the same way.

"The city has not as of today answered any questions to my satisfaction as to why this particular memorial was removed in the first place," he said. ::snipping2::

ORLANDO - George Zimmerman wants to change the terms of his probation that require him to live in Seminole County while he awaits trial.

His lawyer, Mark O'Mara, said one main concern is money. He said Seminole County is the most dangerous place for Zimmerman to live, and the cost of round-the-clock security is draining the defense fund.

"We're preparing to file a motion to modify George's bond to allow him to move out of Seminole County," said O'Mara.

If the money continues to go out faster than it comes in, the next step will be to declare him indigent.

"It has around $40,000 to $50,000 in it -- not as much coming in, and it's draining off due to things like providing security," he said.

Zimmerman posted a $1 million bond a little more than three weeks ago.

SANFORD — The judge in the George Zimmerman case will hold a Stand Your Ground hearing Wednesday in the case of an Oviedo woman who says she shot her estranged husband while he was raping her.

Anita Smithey is charged with second-degree murder for shooting Robert Cline III.

Oviedo police found his body on her bedroom floor May 4, 2010. Smithey was screaming, crying, shaking and bleeding from a knife wound to the side, one that police say she admitted inflicting on herself after she killed the 41-year-old Cline. ::snipping2::

It may seem a bit strange, but under Florida's Rules of Judicial Administration, the same judge who is accused of bias gets to decide whether he is in fact too biased to preside over the case in front of him.

In the motion asking George Zimmerman's judge to step down, Florida's rules required Judge Lester to "determine only the legal sufficiency of the motion." Zimmerman's motion failed that test, Judge Lester wrote in his ruling.

But the judge did not further explain why he found the motion insufficient. That's likely because Florida's rules explicitly state: "No other reason for denial shall be stated, and an order of denial shall not take issue with the motion."

Zimmerman's motion had accused Judge Lester of making opinionated remarks about evidence and "advocat[ing] for Mr. Zimmerman to be prosecuted for additional crimes" in his July 5 order setting bail.

In that order, Lester found Zimmerman "tried to manipulate the system" in allowing his wife Shellie to misrepresent their finances, according to Reuters. Shellie Zimmerman was arrested for perjury and has pleaded not guilty, according to CNN.

Prosecutors had opposed the motion asking George Zimmerman's judge to step down, Miami's WTVJ reports. Judge Lester's granting bail and other privileges to Zimmerman show the judge was not biased, prosecutors had argued.

Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, can appeal Judge Lester's ruling, but has not yet decided whether to do so, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Emails show vitriol toward Sanford police chief Originally published Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 9:23 AM

SANFORD, Fla. — In his waning days as Sanford police chief, Bill Lee received blistering emails with every curse word imaginable, criticizing him for not immediately arresting George Zimmerman for fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Emails obtained by The Associated Press show he also got requests for media interviews from as far away as Qatar's Al Jazeera network and letters of support from other law enforcement officers nationwide. Emails from the scholarly website, racismreview.com, and the media monitoring site, TVEyes, started showing up in his inbox even though he hadn't subscribed to them.

"The truth will come out later," Lee wrote in an email to a supporter.

Martin's Feb. 26 death in a gated community in the Orlando suburb of Sanford first drew national attention on March 8, the day his relatives held their first news conference to draw attention that Zimmerman hadn't been arrested. Zimmerman wouldn't be charged with second-degree murder until 44 days after the shooting. During that time, protesters around the nation demanded Zimmerman's arrest, and the Sanford Police Department was accused of racism and incompetence ::snipping2::By mid-March, as the fury was building, Lee sent out an email to his officers, warning them to take precautions when responding to calls given that emotions were running high. He also defended his department's actions.

"Be courteous and professional when members of the community may voice their position and disdain for the police department," he wrote. "The investigation of this incident was complete and unbiased. There is no reason for anyone in the police department to feel we have done anything but a professional job in providing police service and trying to rebuild the trust of the community."

A flier being circulated in Sanford's Goldsboro community shows the faces of eight young black males, including Trayvon Martin, who died violently.

The missive, still being handed out nearly six months after Trayvon's shooting and four months after George Zimmerman was charged in his death, states that the victims' families have yet to receive justice.

"Our young black men are dying at a far greater rate than they should be," the flier states. "They are being killed for meaningless reasons, and the sad thing about it is that their murders are going unresolved."

The flier continues: "These young men pictured above are just a few of Sanford's young men that have been murdered, and the families have yet to receive justice for them."

Though details of Trayvon's case are widely known, court documents and police reports in the other killings show that law-enforcement officials have pursued the cases and prosecuted some individuals. Here's a synopsis of each killing:

•Corey Donaldson, 34, was at a home on Cypress Avenue in October when he and three other men were shot. Donaldson died, and the three others were hospitalized, including the nephew of legendary Major League Baseball player Tim "Rock" Raines. Tremaine Patrick, 29, turned himself in to police a day later. He is charged with second-degree murder, aggravated battery and shooting into a building. He has pleaded not guilty. ::snipping2::

While other people watch reality shows, a marketing specialist in Michigan who goes by the name “Bcclist” spends time in his yard, calculating Trayvon Martin’s last steps with a tape measure and smartphone stop watch.

He is joined on the Internet by Dave Turner, an Illinois man who had his sons yell in the dark from a distance of 30 feet to see whether he could tell which one cried for help.

Both men are often guided by the work of “Tchoupi,” an engineer with a Ph.D. in physics who has spent countless hours making maps, analyzing witness statements and fleeting headlight patterns in surveillance videos to compute George Zimmerman’s moves the night he killed Trayvon.

The three are among a growing group of people on the Internet so fascinated by the mystery of the killing that captivated the nation that they are out to crack the case themselves. They listen to jailhouse calls, pore over witness statements, study evidentiary documents and measure walking speeds.

After hundreds of hours going through the records, some believe they have debunked Zimmerman’s account of what happened that rainy Feb. 26 night in a gated community in Sanford, when the former neighborhood watch volunteer says he was jumped by Trayvon and was forced to kill him during a struggle. Others say the same evidence points a finger at Trayvon, the 17-year-old Miami Gardens high school junior who they believe contributed to his own death. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder.

::snipping2::

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